


In The Beginning

by Project0506



Series: Soft Wars [63]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Brothers, Clones, Family, Gen, Some Humor, brothers being brothers, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 09:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23849185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506
Summary: The Vode's very first adoption was Squad Shebs and the surly cadet they picked up.
Series: Soft Wars [63]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683775
Comments: 87
Kudos: 767





	In The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> And with this I have officially scratched off the Prompt Previously Known As # 16 from The OneNote. Huzzah. Now I just have to avoid Tumblr and maybe I won't add any more prompts tonight!

Eventually it gets to the point where brothers in Shebs’1 orbit just know to return Rex’ika to them when he starts to make a nuisance of himself.

“He’s karking hilarious,” Doom says. He’s got Rex hoisted by the waistband in one meaty hand and dangling over his shoulder. He wiggles Rex until he protests. “But Priest is going to butcher him.”

“He’ll _try_ ,” Rex mutters and Doom rattles him again.

“You’re not even half a snack, what are you going to do squeak at him?”

Rex snaps around quick as a snake and sinks his teeth deep in the arm holding him. Doom grants Cody a flatly judgmental look.

Cody sighs. “Thanks, we’ll keep a better watch on him," he lies. Doom’s huff says exactly what he thinks of _that_. He’s not wrong; he’ll be back here in a tenday. Doom drops Rex’ika and Cody swats his feet out from under him before he lands. They both ignore the yowl.

“You gotta keep him off advanced mid ranges,” Doom warns. “He’s good and he’s pissing people off.”

Yeah. That’d do it. Rex has never seen reason to downplay his abilities, doubly so if it’s to spare someone’s pride. Not even if that someone is Dred Priest.

Cody lets Rex get most of his feet under him then corrals him by the collar. In a practiced twist he sweeps Rex around him and tosses him bodily to the closest Shebs. Wolffe snags him out of the air, pitches him onto his bunk and levels him with a look that makes Rex stay seated and quiet.

“Sorry,” Cody apologizes again. “We’re working on it.” Doom claps him on the shoulder.

“Squad Chekar2 doesn’t mind keeping an eye out, but we don’t run in those circles. The CC mid range had a tech error and that’s the only reason we were all even down there.” Cody cringes. Too close.

Priest’s paying more and more attention to Rex’ika, and getting more and more pissed off when the CT two whole growth cycles smaller outperforms his hand-picked CC. Shebse don’t know whether he’s looking to trade in or get rid of the competition. They’ve seen hints of how Priest trains; they don’t know which is worse.

And nothing about Rex, his appearance or personality, lends itself to _subtle_ or _don’t draw attention_.

Cody blames Ponds, for the personality at least.

“We’ll handle it.” He doesn’t know how, yet, but they will.

Cody has barely closed the door and hasn’t actually said a word before Rex is babbling defense. “I had a scheduled class! I was _supposed to be there_! It’s _not_ my fault he showed up and swapped the range to advanced programs.” He glares. “And I’m _not_ going to apologize for _not failing_.”

Fuck.

Cody’s hair is getting just long enough that the locks are starting to curl again. It’s just long enough to tug in frustration.

“It’s not your fault,” Ponds soothes. Rex is still watching Cody with angry, wary eyes. He sighs.

“It’s not your fault,” he agrees, and Rex slowly uncurls himself from his defensive little ball.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes anyway, miserably. Wolffe has seen a holovideo somewhere of a mother nexu scruffing her cubs and has taken to doing that to Rex’ika, catching him by the neck and rattling him. It’s surprisingly effective at pulling him out of a sulk.

“It’s not your fault,” Wolffe grunts.

“It might be a little his fault.”

“ _Bly_!” Ponds snaps.

He shrugs with affected unconcern. “It has to be said though. He grabs attention. If he maybe-”

“We’ve already said we can’t blame Rex’ika for how he looks,” Cody says pleasantly. “So if what you mean is you’d like him to start _failing evaluations…_ ”

There’s a momentary tense stand-off, but only a moment. Bly drops his eyes, goes back to buckling on his armor. “Sorry, Rex,” he mutters.

“It’s okay,” Rex mumbles back. “You say dumb things when you’re scared.”

He’s got no filter, their Rex’ika. Bly reaches out a hand and Rex hauls himself under his arm.

“I knew him,” Bly says. He scratches Rex’s prickly head in apology. They keep his hair short; it’s less noticeable. “8826. Before Priest took him. He’s. He’s different now. It’s not a good different.” Rex nods into his side, understanding. He knows none of them want that for him.

“What do we do?”

Ponds’ question has all eyes turning to Cody, even though CC squads are trained specifically to not have squad leads. It’s two questions in one, and Cody doesn’t have an answer for either. 17 is due any minute now to take them to maneuvers; none of them can walk Rex back to his dorm and they don’t have time to find a CC who can. And even if they could, after that what? Rex is alone in his dorm, he doesn’t have a squad that would sound the alarm if he was to disappear one day and none of the trainers seem interested in moving him to a squad with a slot.

They might be unlucky enough that Priest has a hand in that too.

Someone from Squad Edee3 bangs on the wall that separates their dorms: Alphas inbound.

Now or never. Cody meets each of his squad mates eyes in succession. “We have to keep him,” he says, an order and a warning. To a man, they nod.

* * *

“That’s just Rex,” Ponds says airily with a confidence he couldn’t possibly feel. “He’s always been here.” Ponds picks him up, but Rex is a squirmy, kicky thing and he’s only about a head and a half shorter. He eels out of Ponds’ hug and scrambles behind Wolffe. He sticks his tongue out like the brat he is.

He’s cute, Cody thinks. It’s kind of obnoxious.

17 is staring at Ponds like he has some sort of burrowing brain worm making him go insane. “I have never seen that cadet before in my life,” he says slowly.

Wolffe affects a pitying look and pats Rex’s hair. Rex bats at his hand like a disgruntled tooka. Wolffe swats him off his feet and he lands, flailing on the closest bunk. “You okay 17? Maybe you should take a break.”

Wolffe has an amazing fake concerned face. It looks exactly like one that was caught immediately post eye-roll. Cody is jealous. Wolffe kneels to start buckling on greaves, and Rex eventually claws his way out of the bunk and goes to help. His littler fingers are better at the ankle clasps, and the one one Wolffe’s left always sticks.

17 looks at Cody, gets partway through a thought then reconsiders. Cody smiles, bland and amiable, and fastens his bracers. By now 17 knows that’s the face that will absolutely lie directly to him with no tells and no guilt. He turns to the last member of his trainee squad.

Bly, the logical, _normal_ one.

“Bly?” he asks with a voice of desperate resignation. It’s too late. The Shebse have closed ranks

Casually, casually, Bly shrugs. “I don’t know how you missed him,” Bly says.

“Interceptions today right 17?” Rex chirps. Squad Shebs has taught him many things. Chief among those is how to bullshit. Cody is _so proud_. “Can I see the course again?”

17 has handed over his holopad before the realization visibly ticks across his face and he reaches to try to grab it back. Rex has already retreated. “Yeah,” their Rex’ika says flicking through pages. His brilliant brain is rapid-fire flicking through strategy, checking their last scores. “Yeah we can go faster through the first leg. I gotta plan.”

The squad files out, planning and squabbling and refining as they go. Cody chances a glance over his shoulder.

17 looks very, very lost.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Asshole. Back  
> 2\. Shiv (verb). Back  
> 3\. Jaws. Back  
> 


End file.
